U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order approving a plan to restructure TikTok operations in the country to address national security concerns.
TikTok is a massively popular short-form video platform owned by Chinese firm ByteDance. The social media servuce has a strong presence in the U.S., counting more than 170 million users, according to statistics published at the beginning of the month.
The platform isn’t just for entertainment, as many creators in the country depend on it for income, and businesses use it to advertise and promote brands and products.
The risk of user data being accessed by the Chinese government, as well as that of the platform being used to influence and distribute propaganda, sparked increasingly larger concerns in the United States, which resulted in a short-lived ban on January 19.
The next day, President Trump issued an executive order postponing the enforcement, followed by several similar actions until a divestiture plan could be formulated, approved, and agreed upon.
The latest White House announcement confirms that the involved parties have now agreed on a plan for TikTok to continue to be available to U.S. users, by separating the platform from ByteDance and sold to a U.S. owner.
The approved framework agreement suggests the following key points:
A new U.S.-based joint venture will run TikTok in the United States
The divestiture also covers Lemon8, CapCut, and related apps/websites
That entity will be majority-owned and controlled by U.S. persons
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